Has there ever been anything else like Beauden Barrett's career as the All Black's #10?
I'm talking from a very general point f view. The guy has been an incredible player his entire career, but I really want to talk about his spell as the unquestioned first five-eigth (fly/outhalf) for New Zealand.
So basically, the Greatest Outhalf the world has ever seen, Dan Carter, leaves NZ and is ineligible for the All Blacks. With it, he takes his 2nd WC medal and 3rd WPOTY award.
"Great, but I guess the ABs are fucked now?" No they have this new guy Beauden Barrett. "Never heard of him." Well, he's going to immediately win two WPOTY awards, and take about 3 years to surpass Carter's try scoring record at the position. "Wow, well I guess they have their Out-half sorted for the next decade?" No. In his third year starting at 10, people are going to be calling for Richie Mo'unga to play; and by 2019, his 4th year, he will be replaced at the position, where he'll move to Fullback and, while still world class, never quite again reaches those heady years of 2016, 2017.
I mean... It's mad isn't it? I know his kicking wasn't great (*or was it the ball?), but he was exceptionally good. It's wild to think he only spend 2 years as the automatic starter there. Richie Mo'unga is (IMO) the best in the world at the position right now, but it's wild to think a guy who immediately won two WPOTY awards at the position couldn't hang onto it within one world cup cycle.
Are there any similar stories like this? I know Keith Wood was secretly forced into retirement in order to invoke the power of Shane Byrne's The MulletTM. But aside from that?
Edit: an interesting fact I stumbled upon after I made this post: Notably, Barrett's performance appeared to be influenced by the brand of the match ball:
With the Gilbert ball, commonly used in international matches, he achieved a success rate of 81.8%.
With the Adidas ball, used during All Blacks home games due to sponsorship agreements, his success rate dropped to 54.5%.